Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/360

Rh 348 C E II V A N T E 8 father of Miguel was Juan de Cervantes, a knight of some distinction, who held the office of correyidor of Ossuna at the beginning of the IGth century. His son Rodrigo married in 1540 Leonora de Cortinas, a lady of Esquivias, of birth equal to his own but, it is presumed, of no greater fortune. There were four children of the marriage, two sons, Rodrigo and Miguel, and two daughters. Although ranking themselves with the hidalgos, the parents must have been, at the birth of their younger son, in humble circumstances. The biographers have been able to glean but few details of the early life of our hero, and for these they are indebted almost entirely to the chance allusions in Cervantes s own writings. He studied grammar and the humanities under a master of some repute, Lopez de Hoyos, and, according to a doubtful tradition, spent two years at the university of Salamanca, residing in the Calle de Moros. That he received a fair education according to the standard of the age, and had an extensive though not exact knowledge of classical and general literature, his works bear witness. When a boy he describes himself as having attended the representations of the first regular company of Spanish actors under Lope de Rueda, the founder of the dramatic art in Spain. Upon the occasion of the magnificent obsequies held in honour of Isabel de Yalois, the wife of Philip II., in 1568, the most advanced scholars of Lopez de Hoyos competed in the literary exercises, in Latin and in Spanish, which formed part of the funeral ceremony; and chief among the victors was Miguel de Cervantes, who is mentioned by his master in the most affectionate and laudatory terms as his &quot; dear and beloved pupil.&quot; These compositions, among which were sonnets, letrillas, and redondillas, have perished, together with many of the early poetical essays of their author, probably with no loss to the world or to his reputation. In his Journey to Parnassus Cervantes speaks of these effusions of his youthful muse with characteristic modesty and candour, averring that &quot; from his tenderest years he had loved the sweet art of poesy,&quot; and had composed endless ballads and sonnets, good and bad, but confessing with a touching humility that Heaven had not granted him the poet s grace. Among the last works belonging to this period, of which their author speaks with more complacency, was Filena, a pastoral poem, esteemed sufficiently good by his contemporaries to earn for the author a place among the multitude of those who wrote themselves poets in that fruitful harvest-time of Spanish literature In 1568 there came to Madrid charged with a message of condolence from the Pope to Philip II., on the death of his son Don Carlos, and with sundry complaints respecting default of allegiance to Rome the Cardinal Acquaviva, who, though only in his twenty-fifth year, had already earned a name for culture and a good disposition to letters. With him Cervantes took service as a camarero or page, an employment held to be no humiliation in that age even to young men of noble birth, returning in the suite of his Journey to patron to Rome by way of Valencia, Barcelona, and the Rome. south of France. Apparently the post was not to the taste of one in whom the sight of Italy then for the greater part a fief of Spain awakened more of warlike than of poetic ambition. In the beginning of 1570 the cardinal s page exchanged his livery for the soldier s uniform, enlisting in the company of the famous Captain Don Diego de Urbina of the regiment of Don Miguel de Moncada. It was the period when the military glory of Spain was at the highest, and the profession of arms the surest road to advancement. The first campaign of Cervantes was made at sea, his regiment being engaged in the expedition which, in the summer of 1570, under the orders of the Papal general, Marco Antonio Colonna, made an ineffectual attempt to relieve the Island of Cyprus, then Early works hotly besieged by the Turks. The capture of Nicosia by the Mahometans, and the fall of the island, which spread consternation throughout Christendom, gave rise to the memorable Holy League against Selim II. Through the exhortations of the Pope, Pius V., Spain and Venice were induced to lay aside for a time their old dissensions and to unite with Rome in an attempt to bridle the Ottomans, then in the flush and vigour of their genius. The pact between these Christian powers was formally ratified on the 25th of May 1571, the confederates binding them selves to &quot; make perpetual war &quot; not only against the Turks but against the Moors of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, The armament provided the expenses of which were distributed among the three states in the proportion of three-sixths to Spain, two-sixths to Venice, and one-sixth to Rome was to consist of 200 galleys of war, with 100 store-ships, 50,000 infantry, 4500 light horse, and a suffi cient supply of artillery and ammunition. The generalissimo whom the unanimous voice of the allies called to the command of this fleet the most formidable which had ever been assembled in the Mediterranean was Don John of Austria, the natural son of Charles V., then in his twenty-fourth year, a youth not more recommended by his near connection with the Spanish king than by his brilliant talents, amiable character, and great popularity. The mutual jealousies and fears of the allied princes, and the hesitation of Philip II. to entrust so important a com mand to his half-brother, the object of his secret envy and distrust, caused many delays in the assembling of the Christian forces, and gave the Turks ample time for prepara tion. The armada, after rendezvousing at Messina, put to sea finally in quest of the enemy on the 15th of September. The company in which Cervantes still served as a private soldier was embarked in the galley &quot; La Marquesa,&quot; com manded by Francisco San Pietro. After relieving and provisioning Corfu, Don John came up with the Turkish fleet on the 7th of October, drawn up in order of battle in Battle of the Gulf of Lepanto. The Christians advanced in three Lepanto. divisions, their right commanded by the Genoese admiral, Juan Andrea Doria, the centre under Don John himself, and the left under Agostino Barbarigo, the Venetian Proveditore ; the Marques de Santa Cruz, with his squadron, being in reserve. The &quot; Marquesa &quot; was on the left wing, having on board Miguel de Cervantes, who lay in his cabin ill of a fever. On coming into action, his ship being in the van of the squadron, Cervantes s captain and comrades besought him to remain quietly in his bed, but he, according to the sworn testimony of ear-witnesses, asked them what would they think of him if he did not do his duty, and declared his resolve to die fighting for God and his king, rather than remain under shelter and take care of his health. His entreaties to be allowed to share in the fighting having been granted, Cervantes was stationed with twelve soldiers under his command in what was reckoned the post of greatest danger, namely, in the boat which hung by the galley side, most exposed to the enemy s fire. Here he performed his part in that glorious day s work so valiantly as to attract the notice of his commanders, even of Don John himself. The vessel immediately opposed to the &quot; Marquesa &quot; was the galley of the Capitan Pasha of Alexandria, who commanded on the Turkish right, bearing the royal standard of Egypt. After a stubborn resistance, and the slaughter of 500 of her crew, she was compelled to surrender, her fate involving the flight or capture of the entire squadron, and contributing materially to the final defeat of the Turks. On their right wing the Christians were less successful, Marco Antonio Colonna having to encounter the celebrated renegade, Uluch AH, a sea-captain of great skill and experience, to whose good conduct and abilities Cervantes himself, with characteristic generosity,